Manuelo, The Playing Mantis

Paperback | January 19, 2006

One warm summer evening, a lonely praying mantis named Manuelo listens to the music of an outdoor concert. Manuelo wishes that he, too, could make music like the crickets and the katydids. But the instruments he makes don't play. Then Manuelo meets someone who shows him how to fashion a cello using a walnut shell, a stick, and a special ingredient. Manuelo makes his first true friend and, together, they create the music they both love.

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One warm summer evening, a lonely praying mantis named Manuelo listens to the music of an outdoor concert. Manuelo wishes that he, too, could make music like the crickets and the katydids. But the instruments he makes don't play. Then Manuelo meets someone who shows him how to fashion a cello using a walnut shell, a stick, and a spe...

Don Freeman was born in San Diego, California, in 1908. At an early age, he received a trumpet as a gift from his father. He practiced obsessively and eventually joined a California dance band. After graduating from high school, he ventured to New York City to study art under the tutelage of Joan Sloan and Harry Wickey at the Art Stude...